The present invention relates generally to floating containment booms deployed to prevent the spreading of contaminants over a body of water, and more particularly to foldable, compact, quick deploying oil containment booms for use in both high temperature and low temperature oil containment environments.
A number of inventions have been developed for the containment of oil spills to minimize environmental damage to oceans, harbors, and the like. Many of the early designs were directed to containing and preventing oil spills from spreading, but were not: designed to withstand fires and high temperatures. Moreover, previous designs were typically difficult to handle, store and transport.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,213 to Childers is directed to a floatable plastic barrier, molded on-site in a predetermined shape, secured to an elongated flexible member. The plastic barrier is used to contain oil spills in water locations. The flexible member is a cable to which the barrier is bonded directly or attached by clips as the barrier and cable are fed onto the water. The plastic barrier is preferably molded to a 90 degree V shape with the cable formed in or attached to the vertex of the Vee. This design, because of its plastic components, cannot be employed in high temperature situation. Moreover, because of its on-site molded design, the plastic boom cannot be easily removed and transported after its use.
In 1978, U.S. Pat. No. 4,116,007 issued to Stagemeyer disclosing a deployable barrier apron to be used with contaminant recovery systems to encompass or channel contaminant material to collection devices. The '007 Patent is made from substantially plastic components. Accordingly, like Childers, Stagemeyer is limited to containment situation where extreme high temperatures are not encountered.
In 1980, UK Patent 2,035,913 issued to Nyfeldt disclosing a floating fence for the collection of liquid impurities from a water surface. Included therein, is a net to capture impurities that pass through openings located between fence sections, i.e., spaces are intentionally left between boom sections. In addition, the fence includes a number of components made from plastic. Thus, Nyfeldt discloses a boom that is designed to allow small sized contaminant impurities to pass through the boom. As such, this design is limited to applications primarily involving the removal of large particles.
In 1981, U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,856 issued to Magoon disclosing a compactable, foldable boom fence designed to be launched, from the deck of a boat. The boom fence includes folded interconnected sections that deploy to form a boom fence for the control of a contaminates disposed on the surface of a body of water. Similar to Childers, Magoon includes boom segments that are joined by a flexible sheet-like material that is not fire resistant. Thus a boom constructed in accordance with Magoon cannot be used where oil fires are encountered.
In 1982 U.S. Pat. No. 4,330,223 issued to Webb disclosing a Anti-Pollution Barrier. The barrier comprises a plurality of boom segments having components made of plastics. Each segment includes two Z-shaped angles joined by a fastener. Like earlier designs, the segments are interconnected by a flexible membrane that serves to prevent oil from passing between segments. Consequently, Webb shares many of the same limitations that make it unusable in high temperature environments, namely its unprotected plastic components. Moreover, because the flexible membrane is molded into the boom segments, deployment and removal thereof is cumbersome and difficult.
Similarly, in 1990, a German Pat. Issued to Umweltschutz for a containment boom that includes plastic-coated components. Thus, like many previous designs, it too is limited to low temperature environments.
Later inventions began to employ high temperature resistant designs for removing oil contamination layers from water. For example, in 1983, U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,797 issued to McAllister disclosing a Fire Resistant Oil Spill Control Boom. This design allowed the user to remove the oil layer by burning it in place. The boom includes a plurality of units connected together by corrugated panels. Each of the units comprise a float member having panels extending vertically above and below the float member. The corrugated connecting panels have vertically oriented corrugations that form a flexible connection to secure adjacent float members together. Although this design allows deployment in high temperature environments, its corrugated design and the size of its floatation members make its handling, storage and transportation difficult.
In 1988 U.S. Pat. No. 4,781,493 issued to Fischer disclosing a containment boom suitable for use in high temperature environments. The boom comprises a plurality fire resistant layers of fabrics held together by mechanical fasteners or by ceramic thread. A protective polymer coating is placed on its first underlayer that burns off when employed in containing oil fires. Accordingly, repeated use of the boom in high temperature environments is limited. Also, because of its fabric design, it must be stored and recovered in the shape of a coil or the like.
In 1990, U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,332 issued to Sanocki and is generally similar to Fischer. The '332 patent discloses a boom having a plurality fire resistant layers of fabrics. Unfortunately, it shares many of the same problems including components thereof burning away in high temperature, fire related situations. Thus its repeated use is likewise limited.
In 1991, U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,958 issued to Campbell that discloses an elongate inflatable containment barrier that is manufactured on-site during the deployment thereof. The containment barrier operates by reducing the area disposed by the oil layer while simultaneously collecting and pumping the oil from the water surface. Like many previous designs, the barrier includes plastic components thereby limiting its use in high temperature environments. In addition, because it is manufactured on-site, recovery of the boom is difficult thereby increasing the costs of its use.
When considering the various adverse conditions that arise in oil containment situations, the above containment booms are generally limited in some way. Limitations regarding storability, reusability, and suitability for use in high temperature environments are found either alone or in combination in the above noted containment booms. Accordingly, a need remains for an oil containment boom that is compactable and arranged to be easily transported and deployed for use in high and low temperature containment situations, and one that can be reused many times without costly repairs.